This independent Slate demo combines original narrative summaries, credited photographs and clearly labeled AI illustrations. Illustrations convey a setting or idea; they are not eyewitness records, accurate building interiors, or portraits of the named people.
Each moment uses a different image. Seven additional AI-generated atmospheric background plates establish each chapter’s lighting and mood; these textures were generated with OpenAI ImageGen for this prototype in September 2026 and are not historical scenes. Photographs retain their original file bytes; the presentation crops, pans and zooms them. AI images are labeled on screen. Times are Eastern Time; chapter positions represent narrative progress, not equal historical intervals.
US state geometry: public-domain us-atlas, reused from Slate’s America artifact. The opening lines connect departure airports to intended destinations; they are not flown tracks. Later colored routes are schematic reconstructions informed by the 9/11 Commission and NPS accounts, not radar data. Moving lights reveal the route with the narrative, not exact aircraft positions or speed. Routes end with the attack sequence.